My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt. Psalm 71:23-24

His Truth Marches On

It is to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ that His cause and His gospel survive all the sins and follies of His people. Bro. Muse once said, “One of the proofs that the gospel is true is the fact that through the ages it has continued in spite of such poor preaching.” Spurgeon wrote, “Taking ministers all round, I find them more likely to destroy than to build up the cause of Christ.”

The Master’s kingdom has survived the blunders of His disciples; His wisdom stands in spite of our folly; His power is not lessened by our weakness; and the glory of His righteousness has not been clouded by our unrighteousness (2 Cor. 4:5-7).

The King of kings still conquers, using such poor followers and soldiers. Pastor Henry T. Mahan (bulletin 1986)

It Was Good For Me

We think if we could only put away all our doubts, fears, sins, sorrows, unbelief and indifference all would be well with us in this life. Not so. Our Father in His holy Wisdom teaches us individually that it is better to confess, “My times are in Thy hands." By great trouble, God brought David to pray, “Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me and hear me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort.” That is exactly what God is doing by all these troubles. He shows us we have no strength but Christ. He causes us to trust in the LORD. He causes us to cry for Christ our Righteousness to deliver us. He causes us to escape by making us resort to Christ our Strong Habitation. Spurgeon said, “It was well for Jacob that he had an Esau with armed men to drive him to his God. He could say afterwards, “It was good for me to have been afflicted.” (Psalm 119:71). Anything that brings us into close fellowship with God, however evil in itself, works for us the grandest form of good. Pastor Clay Curtis

His Good Pleasure

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

Everything concerning a sinner’s salvation is of God. Nothing is of us. We don’t begin the work of salvation, He does (Phil. 1:6). We don’t perform the work of salvation, He does (Phil. 1:6). We don’t finish the work of salvation, He does (John 19:30, Heb. 1:3). We don’t call on Him, He calls us (Luke 5:32). We don’t seek Him, He seeks us (Luke 19:10). We don’t find Him, He finds us (Luke 15:3-6). We don’t accept Him, He accepts us (Eph. 1:6). We don’t produce our own faith to believe on Him, He puts His own faith in us and causes us to believe on Him (Eph. 2:8). We don’t earn any perfection of our own, He earned it for us (Titus 3:5). It’s not that we loved Him, but that He loved us (1 John 4;10). We don’t keep ourselves in His love, He keeps us there (1 Peter 1:3-5). Salvation is totally of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). Pastor Gabe Stalnaker

COMPLETE IN CHRIST

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power (Col. 2:9-10).

All that is necessary to secure our eternal salvation is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:7-9; 4:19). There is a completion or a complete filling up in Him, so as to leave nothing lacking in the sinner. In the Lord Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of God (John 1:16; Col. 1:19). He is perfect and the believer stands perfected in Him (1Cor. 1:30; Col. 1:22; Jude 1:24).

All that is lacking in us by our ruin and sin in Adam is abundantly, freely and eternally supplied to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20). His perfect obedience is our righteousness (Phil. 2:7-8). His sacrifice for sin is our atonement (Heb. 2:17). His word is our instruction (2Tim. 3:16). His wisdom is our direction (Col. 2:3). His power is our protection (1Peter 1:5). His blood sacrifice is our justification (Rom. 5:9). His grace is our salvation (Rom. 3:24). His eternal love is our security (Rom. 8:32-39). His everlasting mercy is our hope (Lam. 3:22-26). His fullness is our completeness (John 1:16). His immutability is our strength (Mal. 3:6). His resurrection is the guarantee of our final glory (Rev. 1:18). His intercession is the assurance of all our deliverance from sin (Heb. 7:25; 1 John 2:1). Tell me my friend, what could we possibly want for, when all the Godhead is engaged to make the believer complete in the Lord Jesus Christ, to His eternal glory (Rom. 8:29-30; Jude 1:24-25)?

Everything a guilty and vile sinner needs to stand before God justified, righteous, reconciled and accepted is found in Christ (Eph. 1:6: Phil. 3:7-9). Read this verse again carefully; “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).